Final Days of Lithium Village 2025 | Full documentary film by Ground Report & Rohit Upadhyay

Even the thought of being displaced from my land haunts me.

A few years ago, I came across a moving letter written by a young man whose great-grandparents were displaced from Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh, during the construction of the Bhakra Dam. They were resettled in Ellenabad, Haryana. Though generations had passed, a deep emotional bond with their ancestral land still remained.

He wrote about how, as children, he and others from the resettled families would often gather at the Ellenabad bus stand. Every time the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus arrived, they would watch eagerly – not just because it was a bus, but because it came from the land of their forefathers. For them, that bus wasn’t just a vehicle; it was a fragile thread connecting them to their roots, to the mountains, to stories and memories they had inherited but never experienced firsthand.

And then one day, the route was shut down.

That small decision broke something inside them. It felt as if the final link to their homeland had been severed. The sense of loss was not just about distance – it was about identity, belonging, and the silent grief of being cut off from a place that still lived in their hearts.